The Portland Timbers, facing a game that could determine their season and the fate of their coach, produced their best game of the season.

The Timbers jumped out to a 2-0 lead, survived a furious Seattle response in the second half to win 2-1 against their archrivals in front of a sellout crowd of 20,438 at Jeld-Wen Field Sunday afternoon.

The Timbers, tired of hearing criticism from seemingly all corners of the city, displayed a tremendous amount of heart and mental toughness to win their most important game of the 2012 season up to this point.

Behind goals from forward Kris Boyd and centerback David Horst, the Timbers (4-6-4, 16 points) defeated the Sounders (7-5-4, 25 points) in a regular season game for the first since the two teams renewed their rivalry at the MLS level. The Timbers had finished in a draw and lost in the two games played against Seattle during the 2011 season.

The Timbers' poor form in recent games, leading to speculation about Spencer's job status, served as a subplot to the game. The Timbers had a number of issues going into the game, including lack of scoring, defensive lapses and - most important - few wins.

"We came into the game knowing that we needed to get three points," Boyd said. "That was the most important thing - to get the fans back, to get everybody off our backs and prove to people that we can play."

Spencer said the win should mute any question about whether his players still support him.

"You tell me that players are not playing for me. I didn't see anybody not playing for me today," Spencer said. "Every body was fully committed to that Timbers uniform and fully committed to the cause."

The game was typical of the Portland-Seattle rivalry, a physical and extremely chippy affair with plenty of trash-talking, pushing, shoving and fouling. Lots of fouling. The Sounders were called for 23 fouls and the Timbers were called for 15 (a total of 25 fouls were called in the second half). Referee Ricardo Salazar issued five yellow cards (three for Portland, two for Seattle) and the game culminated with two red cards issued to Portland midfielder Lovel Palmer and Seattle forward Fredy Montero.

"The second half was what you'd expect in a rivalry game," right back and captain Jack Jewsbury said. "You could tell both teams played an emotional game."

The Timbers had scored just four goals in their last nine games, but Boyd, the Timbers' $1.5 million man, quickly earned a portion of his salary with his score, which immediately lifted a burden off the Timbers collective shoulders.

The Scottish striker easily - for him - slotted in a crossing pass from defender Steven Smith in the 16th minute of the game. Boyd glided past Seattle centerback Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, was unmarked in the box and had no trouble scoring (video) his fifth goal of the season and providing the Timbers with a huge lift early in the game.

"That was the first time in a long, long time I found myself with that much space in the box," Boyd said.

Brent Wojahn, The OregonianTempers flared at the end of regulation but the Portland Timbers held on to a 2-1 lead during stoppage time to preserve the win against the Seattle Sounders Sunday at Jen-Weld Field .

Horst, whose header sent the ball bouncing off the crossbar in the 11th minute, got another chance 14 minutes later. The centerback wasn't marked on his first opportunity and was unmarked again after a corner from Franck Songo'o. This time, Horst was on target in the 25th minute (video).

"I got a taste on the first header that hit the crossbar," Horst said. "Franck put the ball in the exact same spot again. I hit it down this time instead of up and it worked out pretty good.

Not only was the goal Horst's first of the season, it was the first goal of his MLS career.

"I'll never forget it," Horst said. "It's got to be one of the greatest moments of my life. To score against Seattle in front of all these people."

Shockingly, the Timbers possessed a 2-0 lead for the first time all season.

"We've created a lot of chances in the last few weeks and just not managed to put the ball in the back of the net, for whatever reason," Spencer said. "We get two opportunities and we go two-nil up."

The Sounders, who had come out after halftime with a purpose and dominated play, cut the lead to 2-1 after forward Eddie Johnson beat Horst on a 50-50 ball, raced into the box and beat two more defenders before placing a solid shot in the upper left corner in the 58th minute.

The reenergized Sounders continued to press and attack, possessing the ball on Portland's side of the field and keeping the Timbers on their heels. The tension on the field and throughout the stadium continued to increase as time wore on. That's because the Timbers have a history of conceding goals - a league-leading seven in the 76th minute or later - resulting in lost points.

Not this time.

"We have a history of giving up late goals," midfielder Sal Zizzo said. "I think we buried those demons."

The constant stoppage of play, the altercation and red cards in stoppage time increased the extra time from four to six minutes. Six agonizingly long minutes for the Timbers.

"I looked up at the big (video) screen and it said four minutes. Then I looked up again and it said six minutes," Zizzo said. "I started saying, 'Just blow the whistle please.' "

Notes: Montero, who had trying to instigate an incident throughout the game with trash-talking and getting in the face of Portland players, started pushing a Portland player and Salazar had seen and heard enough, issuing a red card to Montero. …Palmer ran into the circle during the incident and appeared to throw a forearm at the head of a Seattle player, earning him an ejection. …Portland midfielder Kalif Alhassan went down with an apparent leg cramp in the 49th minute, but returned to play for four minutes before going down to the turf a second time. He was subbed out with Sal Zizzo coming in as the replacement. Spencer said Alhassan may have strained or pulled a hamstring muscle. …Seattle extended its MLS franchise-record winless streak to seven games. …Left back Jeff Parke left the game with an injury and was replaced by Patrick Ianni.